I am going to start out with Love Note's lap quilt because I just love it!!  I used Hoffman hand-dyed solids and they are just a dreamy with all the bright saturated colors.  This was beyond perfect for the XOXO quilt.  I sat the X's inside so they pop against the O's.  It is so fun to sew this baby up!  So fun!


I quilted this with Hearts and Swirls to match the Love theme.  Darling.  Just darling.


One thing that I don't do very often is that I mixed the top and bottom threads.  I used white on the top to blend in with the quilt and then I used black in the bobbin.  I had just a tiny bit peak through and I was very satisfied with the final result.  It isn't my favorite thing to do but I loved the backing so much and it was black with gold.  I just felt that the white wouldn't work on the back?


I love how the thread combinations worked with the backing.  It was worth it.


Another thing that is interesting about this pattern is that I made it twice.  I was asked by Quilt It to film a few segments with them about quilting a Quilt Sampler.  It is funny because I have thought through why I like to design samplers a lot before and it is nice to explain from a quilting point of view as well.  I will link the quilting segment here as soon as it is up on the site.  It should be sometime this month (September 2015).

So I decided to make the quilt twice in two different styles (screen-printed fabric and contemporary batiks).  It was a little overwhelming to pick fabrics for each block twice.  But once I got the hang of it the quilts just came together quick.

(Screen-Printed version with XOXO quilt)

(Contemporary Batik version with XOXO quilt)

This cute quilt got it's name from the mailbox that is sending love.  These blocks in the quilt were pretty fun to design out.  In the picture below it shows the heart flutters block.  and the mailbox quilting where I used our house number for just a little personal touch.


The block just below is a heart beat.  Umm.... CUTE!  and then of course we have a love note ready to be dropped in the mail and a love bird.  Lots of LOVE.


The batik version was so pretty.  I love the teal batik.  It was just the perfect shade for me.  And I really love the grass in the batik too.  It was so vivid.  If you want to check out how I approach the quilting be sure to check out the segments because it was fun to share that on video.


Here is a close-up of my cowboy feather quilting technique.  Also, you can see the string art embroidery up close too.  I have to share kind of a funny part of filming.  The host isn't a quilter/piecer.  So when she was pulling the machine over to quilt it caught on the LOVE embroidery and I almost died when it rips the strings because each letter took FOREVER to embroider and I had to do it twice for the two quilts.  My heart fluttered.  But it recovered.  LOL.  It actually looks just fine with the few strings missing.  So no big deal.


I really love the heart beat fabric on the screen-printed quilt.  It is just darling.


So here is the Love embroidery on the screen-printed one.  This one has imperfections too and it wasn't the one that the strings broke, so even if there aren't missing strings it still isn't perfect!  So the batik version looks just fine too.  I snuck the black batik fabric in the screen-printed version in the stop border and it was perfect.  Pretty much it all turned out perfect enough for me.  I love these two quilts.

First starting out in the zone... ya know "IN" my comfort zone.  Which now is actually a pretty nice zone.

 I just finished my newest pattern "Fallin' in Love"!!  I actually am in love with Fall so it could easily be Loving the Fall.  It is my most most favorite time of year!  My ultimate favorite outfit is a sweatshirt with jeans.  Ask anyone that loves me and they should know :)  This pattern sews up pretty quick.  I find all the parts quite enjoyable which makes sense why I made it the way I did.  This pattern is available in my pattern shop (tab #2) as well as my Etsy and Meylah stores.


I quilted this quilt much like all my other samplers but I tried a little bit of falling leaves in the middle of the quilt which was a little fun.  I think that trying new things in small quantities really is enjoyable because it doesn't really drag you too far "OUT" of your comfort zone or really any at all.


Buttons are a girl's best friend for embellishments.  This is the case especially when it doesn't call for a button hole, lol.  I love little caterpillars too because I loved playing with them when I was little.  I think that the really furry ones looks pretty intimidating to touch in the beginning but once you tested the faux spikes you knew you were in the Safe Zone.  And the next thing you know you have a caterpillar on your face! lmbo!


Again, I know I love pebbling and this block down below gave me the perfect excuse to add my new favorite quilting technique.  I want to touch on Falling in Love and how it is a bit of a whirlwind.  I thought this was for sure the case.  I was pretty young when I fell in love for the first time, kinda I guess.  I was about 17 1/2.  I think I figured it out when I really didn't want to be without that person and when maybe leaning towards separate paths, the thought of loss was pretty tortuous.  It happens to be my hubby so that is kinda special.  We were young and we got married pretty young too.  Growing up is a little tuff and to do it together still tuff.  We made it though.  I think we are officially adults now at 30+.  Anyway, it is neat to kinda draw inspiration from life.


I got a change to expand my loop design to include a fall leaf.  Pretty easy and a perfect result for this quilt.


AND now for really "OUT" of the comfort zone. dun. dun. dunnnnn... Sewing with knits.  Riley Blake is coming out with their new knit designs in tons of colors and stripes, dots, chevrons.  Their knits are so soft and awesome to sew with so that is the easy part.  The hard part is that I have been on this road of trying to get better with sewing clothes and I am still traveling on the road.  I relate it to long-arming how I was really rethinking that situation at first but now I love it!  So, I think that this will be really similar traveling on the clothes making road.  I am in the zone this week though, I am releasing my first skirt pattern so it fittingly is named "Mixi Skirt" because it is the first one.  It is made with knits and let me tell you if I can do it then you can too, believe you me.  Seriously, I don't want to expose myself but if it isn't simple (in clothes construction) right now than problems come out of the woodwork.  But you are in the No Worries ZONE here.
It has a great shape.  I know we have all seen the Maxi Skirt out there, but my favorite one is a FLARED Maxi Skirt because it flatters my shape best.  I am curvy.  I know it might not look it in these pics and that is because the skirt hides all of that!!  The skirt is so so comfortable and I feel stylish.  This pattern has an fold-over waistband that aids in that comfort.  The fun part is the ruffled design to add a little bit of dimension and the cute little pocket for some essentials kept easy.  Look at me just going on and on.  Comfort is always key for me but I like looking cute doing it.


I played with the stripes a little on the back to add a little interest to what would be a plain back.  It is cool because it makes things even slimmer (who doesn't love that).  The bottom is a baseball style hem. That is fun part of making your own clothes is that you get to include all your most favorite styles and cuts.


If you like it then you better put a label on it!  Another thing to mention is that I finished teaching my class recently and I actually am moving that on in to my comfort zone because I enjoyed learning and sharing with others.  I would love to get the opportunity to teach more classes in the near future.  It happened to be on Labels and how important it is to label your projects.  I have woven labels that are most often pictured with my sewn items.  I would love to get a softer label for these knits so stay tuned for that.


So this is what is sewing on here in my house.  I have a few more patterns coming up over the next few days.  Hopefully I won't be broke out in hives worrying about making mistakes and learning the hard way on my clothes pattern journey.  Thanks so much!!

It is a little early for summer... especially since it snowed this morning. BUT, I have my summer wall hanging pattern available (The pattern is available in my shop - Tab # 2, or in my Etsy and Meylah stores). This way it gives one plenty of time to have it ready for summer :) Of course I had a BLAST quilting this little baby. I loved pebbling. I could probably pebble a very large quilt and not tire of it (well maybe a little bit).

I have used all Riley Blake's new fabric lines.  I can't get over how much I love the strawberry prints and the lady bugs.  Some really cute stuff.  I have included Simple Gingham, Hello Sunshine, Ladybug Garden, and a little bit of Madhuri.  This is a great WALL HANGING and also included is a TABLE RUNNER layout!!



SUMMER FLIES -
Summer really does fly by for our family which I am sure it does for everyone.  I anticipate it each year as do my kids.  I just love the weather and the camping.  There is nothing better.  This summer I am going to be running the marathon towards the end.  AHHHH!  I hope that training is good to me.  It should be because I have a good partner.


The snails represent my sister-in-law and myself.  I drew them awhile back and it is funny to see now because it is like we slugged along until we ran into each other and then we just stayed there staring at each other.  I could probably do that for some time and it would be quite humorous.  It could entertain us, we are pretty easy.


Who doesn't love butterflies?  I use to catch them when I was younger and then let them go.  I think that was my version of catch and release with the substituting the fish.  I am not a great fisherman... trust me, there was a thrown pole and then a lot of embarrassment followed.  I don't even catch grasshoppers very well either they are TRICKY.




Well, anyway, I hope you are enjoying your spring and get after it and make a quilt for summer.

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I wanted to make a pattern for this time of year and I really was itching to make one as an ode to the color wheel.  I always see color wheel inspired quilts and envy them and now I don't have to :)  Here is my newest pattern Dreams Come True (available here in my pattern shop - Tab 2, and in my Etsy and Meylah stores)




This quilt is really fun to make and it is a great scrap buster.  The pattern uses piecing, paper piecing, fusible appliqué, and embroidery.  It also offers a table runner layout as well, which is one thing unique about this pattern because you can easily adapt it depending on your space that you have available.


I had a lot of fun quilting this little quilt.  I got to try out all kinds of different background designs.


I got to expand my heart and loop design to include a clover.  It was pretty simple and was a perfect design for this quilt.  I also machine bound the quilt using a bottom line thread.  I bought this thread quite awhile ago and I have recently been using it to bind my quilts.  I really like how it turns out.  I am a big fan of that product!


Just more pictures :)



So, I made this quilt because I wanted a new one to fill the spot of my Valentine's Wall Hanging and now I have this perfect little quilt using all those fun colors bringing Spring into my home.  I feel Lucky!

First I will start out with my newest pattern. I absolutely needed something new for Valentine's Day and so this little table runner and pillow was born. Hope you like it. I used fabric from a very sweet sewer that I meant at quilt market.  So here is my first yellow addition to this snowy time of year.  It has a little bit of yellow mixed in.  Also, again this pattern is available in my Etsy and Meylah pattern shops.

(Riley Blake's ribbon trim)

The ribbon I used is most most favorite at the moment (It is one of Riley Blake's trims).  It is little flowerettes stitched together, it couldn't be more sweet.  I thought it would be fun to make a heart out of the ribbon and stick it on this really simple pillow.  I think it worked out pretty nice :)

(This is my favorite block)

(This is my favorite row ;)

So it has snowed a lot here!  and I am sure everywhere.  Some interesting things about our backyard is one... it is small, two... we have lots of creatures that spend the winters with us.  Here are my sewing partners (which is what we call them in our house).  There are three deer, really four but I think the fourth is out of the picture, that are nestled in this picture.  They are about 20 feet away.  We like them.  They like our backyard.  Living in the "city", it is crazy that I get to enjoy so much wildlife which I would have never imagined coming from the country.  Even during the summer we have crazy racoons and skunks.  My favorite is then the deer have their little ones in the spring.


Second yellow thing.  The second yellow thing I made was a cute Kimberbell pattern.  I met her and her sister at quilt market and I have never stopped saying the nicest things about them because they were so so nice.  I love this pattern.  I actually have a little love banner that I haven't finished but I wanted to hang it up for our sewing group that met last night at my house.  It sure is cute.  I am in love with yellow right now as I mentioned.


What I really love about this quilt though is that I again got to practice my background quilting.  It was very fun and I love the final look it gave this quilt in particular.  The stitching really "pops" (truly stands out physically), along with the other appliqué parts.


Also, in my borders I did some circle loops and added that fun swoop heart.  I couldn't be happier with how great it feels to make great progress on long-arming and I am feeling tons of relief now because it was shaky at first and I was doubting the whole situation.


Our sewing group was a such a fun thing.  We are making Kimberbell's Land of Liberty pattern.  I got to meet her at Quilt Market and it was a pleasure to pick her pattern for our group this year.  This month went especially well because I was able to hear from others about their progresses this past month.  We aim to finish the quilt by the fourth of July just in time to display.  Hopefully, I will get pictures at that time to share.  Also, I got to gift them that cute heart table runner from last post.  I love quilting and sharing it with others is a real joy :)